An Ol' Broad's Ramblings

Archive for August 2008

Watching a rerun of Extreme Makeover in Louisiana, rebuilding a church and a home after the devastation of Katrina, while also watching the news about Gustav barreling down on that same area? Would that be ironic? Honestly, I can’t think of another word that fits. Don’t you think they could have picked a different one to run tonight?

Whine #1: I’m sitting here, with my leg propped up, with a pillow under it, looking at a cane I’ve had to use the last couple of days. Dang! sigh…. Screwed up knee. Did the x-ray and MRI thing, and yep….it’s screwed up alright. Torn stuff, bone degenerating, yada yada. Old age sucks. Going to see the ortho guy a week from tomorrow (earliest I could get in to see any of ‘em), and no doubt, there is surgery in my future.

Whine #2: Our oldest cat, Hootie, isn’t doing too well. She’s spending most of her time under the bed, and isn’t eating enough to keep a mouse alive. She will drink a little water though, evidenced by her tinkling ON the bed this morning….a LOT.

After losing Psycho (8 Feb 2006), having Hootie go too, well….hard would be an understatement. She’s one of our four legged children!

Whine #3: This morning, the Mr headed to Wisconsin, to take care of some stuff up there, and to go to Volksfest in Waupun. He hasn’t missed Dorf Kappel in years, so I guess just cuz we’ve moved to Tennessee, it’s no reason to start now. I don’t do polka music. I’m a Texan! :) No, I’m not mad at him for going. This trip has been planned for quite a while, and he did volunteer to postpone it, just for lil’ ol’ me. He’ll be back around the 15th, and I’ll survive….sorta.

What’s my beef? Well, what if something happens to Hootie while he’s gone? I can’t dig a hole. Not that I want to, but what if? I can hobble around the house, no problem. Well, at least not so far. I can even drive if the need arises. But Hootie is another matter all together. I need to take her to the vet, but how do ya carry a kitty in a carrier with a cane?

Let’s also remember, New Orleans is NOT the only city in the area. There are many cities, in other states, that may be even more affected. Sadly, it looks like the powers that be learned nothing from the flooding. It wasn’t Katrina that caused the devastation, it was feckless politicians! And no, I do NOT mean Bush!

Mississippi managed to rebuild fairly quickly, yet those in NOLA are still whining the gubmint isn’t doing enough. Hint: Git up off your hind end, make sure your local officials are doing their job, which they don’t seem to be, and start cleaning. I’m fairly sure there are organizations still providing brooms, mops, cleaning solutions, and even manpower to aid those who REALLY want it. Better yet, get the hell out of that sinking cesspool!

Signs are emerging that history is repeating itself in the Big Easy, still healing from Katrina: People have forgotten a lesson from four decades ago and believe once again that the federal government is constructing a levee system they can prosper behind.

In a yearlong review of levee work here, The Associated Press has tracked a pattern of public misperception, political jockeying and legal fighting, along with economic and engineering miscalculations since Katrina, that threaten to make New Orleans the scene of another devastating flood.

Dozens of interviews with engineers, historians, policymakers and flood zone residents confirmed many have not learned from public policy mistakes made after Hurricane Betsy in 1965, which set the stage for Katrina; many mistakes are being repeated.

The site was put together by some folks who had to deal with Katrina, so I’m fairly certain they do have a clue. It’s not 100% active, but I’m pretty sure if Gustav keeps heading in the direction predicted, they’ll have some vital info for those affected.

TOTALLY Off Topic: How neat! She named me as a blog to check out. I thank ya ma’am! Yep, we are definitely from different sides of the political spectrum, but I like her style. She’s spunky!

But while Agnew was a crook who was forced from office in the first year of Nixon’s fated second term in the face of charges of extortion, tax fraud, bribery and conspiracy, Sarah Palin is an all-American apple-pie mom with a school boy sweet-heart husband and five kids, whose extremely limited political career has seen her take on corruption within Republican-dominated Alaska. If she was unknown outside her home state, she appears to be hardly familiar to John McCain, who had reportedly only met her once, before she joined him Friday on the platform at a rally in Dayton, Ohio.

Well, it’s not like they live in the same neighborhood. Just because they didn’t meet on a regular basis, does not mean he wasn’t well aware of her qualifications.

But McCain is too experienced a political campaigner to have acted without careful thought. Commentators have failed to pick up the fact that for some time, McCain was not sure if he would be facing Hillary Clinton in the run for the presidency. Palin has, therefore, very probably been on McCain’s radar for some months, as a running mate who could cancel out the Clinton appeal to female voters. In this respect, Palin’s value to the campaign has probably not diminished. Despite Clinton’s highly theatrical endorsement of Obama at the Democrat convention, it seems significant numbers of Clinton supporters, who either wanted a woman in the White House and/or did not want a black man there, are determined to vote the Republican ticket in protest at Obama’s nomination.

I’ve never been a gungho McCain supporter, and if ya come around here often, you know this. But one thing I never thought was that he lacked intelligence. He’s quick on the upswing, and I do like that about him. He doesn’t need a lot of ‘ummm….uhh…..’ when answering questions….without his teleprompter or notes, unlike someone else in this race.

There was never a hint that McCain might have turned to either of George W. Bush’s secretaries of state, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, both of whom are deeply tarnished by their involvement in the misbegotten Iraq invasion. McCain wants to distance himself from the blundering Bush years and recast the Republican ticket as caring and listening as the US economy falters, but firm and principled when it comes to foreign affairs. The calculation is clearly that Palin’s youth — she is 44 — will balance McCain’s wealth of years — he turned 72 on Friday. But the stark truth is that were McCain to win the presidency and die in office, the most powerful country in the world would start to be run by an Alaskan housewife. Will voters take this risk or in the next 65 days will Palin be able to convince them that whatever her inexperience, she is guided by the strong principles that every American wants to lie at the heart of government in Washington, but knows all too well do not?

Considering that neither Rice, nor Powell, are exactly the pro life types, I can’t imagine that he would have chosen either of them. McCain has stated repeatedly that his would be a pro life ticket, and administration. Rice has become a major disappointment to me with her handling of the Israel/Palestinian business. And Powell? Well, I respect the man a great deal, always have, but I think he’s mellowed WAY too much in recent years.

As to the ‘misbegotten’? Well, maybe so, but they went on the information they had. We won, they lost. Saddam Hussein is burning in hell, along with that trash he called sons. The execution of the war since the victory….well, I have had issues with that, but that’s another post.

The only certainty is that this is going to be an extremely interesting election that will either see an Afro-American in the Oval Office or a woman sitting along the corridor from it.

Oh, you bet it’s going to be interesting. Every single nasty tidbit is going to be slung from both sides. I don’t think this is a good thing. As a matter of fact, I’m fairly tired of it myself. Class and politics don’t have much in common.

No, as much as I scoured for B. Hussein ‘toons this morning, none could be found. Well, no really good ones at any rate. What I found was a whole lot of Sarah Palin bashing. Dang! That woman really does scare the bejabber out of the lefties. I LOVE IT!

Here are a couple of examples:

Is Gov Palin young? Yes, she is. And from a female perspective, a WHOLE lot more pleasant to look at than Joe Biden. Is she inexperienced? I would have to say no, not really. She took on quite a job when she decided to run for Governor of Alaska. Executive experience trumps voting present any day.

Ah yes….the infamous ‘bridge to nowhere‘ which Gov Palin put a quick stop to, going up a political machine, who by the way, is now under indictment. Then, there’s the women’s vote. I’m a woman. I vote. Problem? Oh, yes, sorry, I forgot. There are some of the female persuasion who don’t have a clue when life actually begins, so they aren’t going to vote for a Pro Life candidate anyway. I don’t consider them REAL women.

If you’ve checked out some of the pro Hillary sites, I think you might be surprised at just how many of those women are really excited about Sarah Palin. I don’t know if it’s just because she’s a woman, or the fact that she’s a STRONG woman. They are looking at her in a new light, and this is a good thing.

Remember the Pelosi “most ethical Congress ever” blather? Well, if the Dhimmis really were concerned with ethics, they’d be hailing Palin, instead of trying to find dirt. Where do they come up with some of these ideas anyway? Do they have a bunch of high schoolers sitting around in their mommy’s basement trying to come up with juvenile ways to slander this woman?

Is she perfect? Well, when you find a truly perfect person, you let me know, cuz the last I heard, He hasn’t come back yet. Is she want the Republican Party needs? Oh, you betcher bippy she is! I don’t care what her gender is, although, that seems to be a plus for a lot of folks. I care where she stands on “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness“! I want to know how she stands up for the U.S. Constitution! Is it set ‘in stone’, like the Ten Commandments, or is it what the left seems to think…a living breathing document? Should our founding documents stand, or should they be twisted into something that was never meant to be?

These are my concerns, and so far, she’s addressed them quite well! If they want to do some nitpicking, I think they might start in their own closets, clean them out first. There are too many unanswered questions about B. Hussein. Besides, Palin isn’t running for POTUS, now, is she!

The first of four AMTRAK trains carrying New Orleans residents fleeing Hurricane Gustav arrived in Memphis at 11:45 Saturday night. The trains were contracted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to bring as many as 3,500 evacuees to Memphis, where they will be dispersed to shelters.

Waiting Memphis Fire Dept. personnel and AMTRAK police helped passengers disembark, handling luggage and showing them where to go. Even Memphis City Council member Myron Lowery, still tired from his week in Denver at the Democratic National Convention, helped greet the evacuees.

Instead of leaving the story about the evacuees, the Appeal just HAD to throw that little tidbit in about the Dhimmi convention. Totally irrelevant! They could have put a positive light on Memphis; instead, this pecker head threw in the politics. A real shame!

Martinez now says he was 25 all along, and that his true name is Jose Mendoza Cerrato. On Thursday, he pleaded guilty in adult court to drug dealing and is expected to be transferred to immigration authorities for possible deportation as soon as next month.

The case raises questions about how diligently San Francisco’s juvenile justice system works to confirm that immigrant suspects with little or no documentation are who they say they are. Despite apparent inconsistencies in what Cerrato told authorities, he had little trouble persuading the courts to treat him as a minor who did not belong behind bars.

If you ask me, no one in San Francisco is very diligent at anything other than embarrassing the rest of the country into wishing the ‘big one’ would hit, and they’d all sink into the Pacific! I don’t care what their age is, they don’t belong here, and for dealing drugs, he DOES belong behind bars!

The US president, who visited Tanzania in February, also assured the US public that “your money is being spent wisely and compassionately in Tanzania. And a lot of it has to do with the leadership of the president.”

Bush decided not to send troops to end what he called “genocide” in Sudan’s Darfur province, but has pressed the international community to deploy a UN-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force.

On Zimbabwe, Bush has expanded sanctions on what he branded in July Robert Mugabe’s “illegitimate” government and offered support to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Contrary to what the rabid Bush haters would like you to think, he has done some good. Now, if he’d just secure our borders, my respect level for him would go back up a bit.

Weak teachers can put children off learning and are too difficult to sack, the chief inspector of schools has warned.

Christine Gilbert, the head of the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), claimed pupils were being let down by inadequate teachers.

She said teaching rated as “satisfactory” was not good enough, especially in deprived areas.

I don’t care where you are, when you have crappy teachers, you have crappy schools. Crappy schools are a major discipline problem. Chuck the crappy teachers, you might see an increase in learning, and your schools will start to improve. Then again, there are schools that have already been taken over by the ‘inmates’, and that’s another issue altogether.

The father of kidnapped IDF Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, speaking on behalf of the family, expressed “shock and dismay” in a statement to the media Sunday that the Palestinian Authority might ask Israel to release more terrorists in yet another “good will gesture” to PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The family is demanding that the government desist from releasing any more prisoners as long as their son remains a hostage with Hamas terrorists in Gaza. Gilad turned 22 last Thursday, his third birthday in captivity.

I agree whole heartedly! Do NOT send one more terrorist back home until that young man is safe with his family! This “good will gesture” BS is just that….a large steaming pile! If it was me, I would have been lobbing bombs all over the place till Shalit was home. THEN there could have been a chat about who should be released. And it would NOT have included that baby murderer!

Long before he was accused of running unauthorized background checks on private citizens, a joke made its way around the Tennessee Highway Patrol about Ronnie Shirley.

He could parachute over the old Soviet Union, the joke went, and if you telephoned the Kremlin an hour later, Shirley would have schmoozed his way so far within the corridors of the communist state, you’d hear his West Tennessee drawl on the other end of the line.

The joke illuminates a truth about Shirley, a 6-foot-4 trooper full of charm and backslapping political skill, but it also reflects a long-held belief about what it takes to get ahead in the THP: Politics and cozying up to the powerful too often determine the course of a trooper’s career.

“He makes friends,” said former THP Lt. Col. Steve Browder, who is from McNairy County, where Shirley grew up, and helped Shirley get hired as a trooper in the late 1980s.

Did he think he was Bufford Pusser….without the stick? Someone’s radar should have shot up, and given warning!

Ruben Pestano Lavilla Jr., also known as Sheik Omar Lavilla, was deported to Manila yesterday, more than a month after he was arrested in Bahrain.

Marcelino Libanan, head of the immigration commission in Manila, said the 35-year-old militant leader was working as an editor of a local magazine and was also hired as an interpreter at the Philippine Embassy in Bahrain.

Officials at the embassy confirmed reports about Lavilla’s deportation, but Consul General Jose Burgos could not confirm claims he had been working as an interpreter at the embassy. “I cannot confirm or comment on the issue as I am not aware of it,” Burgos said.

Which leads me to question if the Embassy was aware of who was in their midst.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick would plead guilty to at least two felonies, pay a six-figure restitution and agree not to run for office for two years under a plea deal offered by his lawyers to settle perjury and obstruction of justice charges, the Free Press has learned.

The deal would mean Kilpatrick would automatically lose the mayor’s office and his law license. Under the proposal, he would also sign over his state pension and benefits to the City of Detroit, do 300 hours of community service with homeless and disabled people, and serve up to five years probation, according to a source familiar with all aspects of the negotiations. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy hasn’t accepted the deal because she wants jail time, a condition the mayor rejects.

First off, he should be banned from running for office, completely. Community service is a nice touch, however I do think that after all that arrogant SOB has put the city through, he should do at least six months behind bars.

“We’re the second-largest state in the country. We’re the state with the strongest economy in the country. We’ve been the source of presidents and the source of significant members of the Congress. I expect us to be treated the way we’ve always been treated — very well,” said Michael Williams, a delegate and state Railroad Commission chairman.

Williams, who believes history will judge Bush’s presidency a success, is scheduled to help introduce John McCain when the senator accepts the GOP presidential nomination on Thursday.

What an odd headline. Do people blame the whole state for JFK’s assassination back in ’63? People treat each other with respect, not because they come from the same state as the POTUS, but because that’s what decent people do. These aren’t Dhimmicrats y’know. Jeeeez!

Congress is putting the short-term future of renewable energy companies in jeopardy even as the presidential candidates and most lawmakers hail windmills, solar panels and biofuels as long-term solutions to high gasoline prices and global warming.

Some $500 million in investment and production tax credits will expire Dec. 31 unless Congress renews them. Without that help, solar and wind power companies say they will reverse planned expansions and, in many cases, cut payrolls and capital investment.

Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies found weapons and devices to disable buses among other items in searches in the Twin Cities last night and today. Authorities said the items came from “key members of the RNC Welcoming Committee,” a self-described anarchist group.

Five people have been arrested and four properties have been searched, according to the sheriff’s office.

“The ‘Welcoming Committee’ is a criminal enterprise made up of 35 anarchists who are intent on committing before and during the Republican National Convention,” said Sheriff Bob Fletcher in a statement. “These acts include tactics to blockade and disable delegate buses, breaching venue security and injuring police officers. They have recruited assistance in their criminal conspiracy from other anarchists groups throughout the country. Through their plans and actions they have exhibited a blatant disregard for the law and the safety of others.”

The statement said the items found in the searches included:
Materials to create “sleeping dragons” (PVC pipe, chicken wire, duct tape), which is when protesters lock themselves together

Large amounts of urine, including three to five gallon buckets of urin

A machete, hatchet and several throwing knives

a gas mask and filter

Empty glass bottles

Rags

Flammable liquids

Homemade caltrops (devises used to disable buses in roads)Metal pipes

Axes

Bolt cutters

Sledge hammers

Rapelling equipment

Kryptonite locks

Empty plastic buckets cut and made into shields

Material for protective padding

An Army helmet.

Nice folks those Dhimmis. Real classy. And they wonder why there is a division in this country? Look to yourself libtards!

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, while Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned residents that the state “could see flooding worse than Hurricane Katrina,” as Gustav approached the Gulf Coast.

The announcement turned informal advice to flee from Gustav into an official order to get out.

Nagin said Saturday that the evacuation becomes mandatory at 8 a.m. Sunday on the city’s vulnerable west bank. It becomes mandatory on the east bank at noon.

“This is the real deal, not a test,” Nagin said as he issued the order, warning residents that staying would be “one of the biggest mistakes of your life.” He emphasized that the city will not offer emergency services to anyone who chooses to stay behind.

The announcement comes as officials continued to evacuate the elderly, disabled, poor and others without means ahead of Gustav’s march toward the Gulf Coast.

“[This is] as bad as it gets,” the Republican governor said, quoting the National Weather Service.

An estimated 1 million residents fled the Gulf Coast Saturday, ahead of any official evacuation order, according to the Associated Press, but after the National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and part of Texas.

I do pray for the safety and well being of those in any of the affected areas. Perhaps it’ll disipate, or change direction?

My question for the “chocolate city mayor”, why the hell didn’t you do this when you had so much warning before Katrina hit?

Update: Just heard on the local news (Memphis) tomorrow I-55 and I-59 will be totally – all lanes -one way….north! They interviewed one gentleman, who just broke my heart. He just moved back into his home a couple of weeks ago, and now he may lose it again.

Iran’s decision to step up its nuclear programme was a bid to exploit the current tensions between the US and Russia, a leading Middle East expert said on Friday.

Sami Al-Faraj, director of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies, expressed concern in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI), after an announcement by Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Ali-Reza Sheikh Attar.

“Iran is certainly taking advantage of the crisis in relations between Moscow and Washington in order to develop its nuclear technology,” he told AKI.

For some reason, this seems bassakwards. Iran starts with the nuclear stuff, Russia is helping them, and THEN tensions start to escalate. Amhadinnerjacket threatens to wipe Israel off the map. Things get more tense. “Jacket” continues to threaten, not just Israel, but the “great satan”, aka USA, and the UN decides sanctions are needed. Right. Right?

Ali-Reza Sheikh Attar said Friday that Iran has nearly 4,000 working centrifuges at its nuclear facility at Natanz and another 3,000 were being installed.

Oh, and Jacket can’t count either, but this doesn’t surprise me. He’s not the brightest bulb in the box.

“Russia has sought the political support of countries in the organisation, among them China, but received a cool response. Iran could work to convince countries that are members of the SCO, like Kazakhstan and Kirghizistan, to support the Russian position in Georgia.

“In exchange, Tehran would have strong political support for its nuclear programme.”

The last thing the world needs right now is Iran and Russia playing footsie. Hopefully, China has more sense than to join this merry band of thieves.

At the same time however, he warned that a possible intensification of Iran’s nuclear programme could become “a big problem for the international community” because it comes at a time of great tension in the Middle East.

Gee, ya think? Creating and adding to that tension would be…..drum roll please…….IRAN!

Referring to the UN Security Council’s anti-Iran resolutions, Attar said that the sanctions were futile and ineffective.

“Had westerners become certain that the resolutions would bring us down to our knees, they would have definitely intensified them (the sanctions),” he said.

Truer words were never spoken. The Useless Numnuts can come up with all the ‘sanctions’ in the world, and such countries are going thumb their noses. They just don’t care!